Mr. Paul Lemass:

I will take them in the order they came. In regard to Deputy Cassells' assertion that we have given a negative assessment, we have raised questions. It is unclear to us how the proposal would yield a better result than the current structures, which are largely well received.

In regard to the dissolution having had a negative effect, the Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy John Paul Phelan, today approved the terms of reference for the local electoral area boundary committees. Part of those terms of reference deals with the issue of establishing urban focus around towns. They state that distinct urban-focused local electoral area or areas, as appropriate, shall be designated in respect of each town and electoral areas, based as far as practical on census towns. There is a range of references in there around building a focus around urban areas. It is recognised that in the past, larger municipal districts meant that the elected members were not necessarily from the towns. The example given is Nenagh-Newport, where of nine elected members only one was from Nenagh. When there is a wide-ranging geographical area, it is always possible that there will not be elected members from the town or urban area. When the local electoral areas are drawn more coherently around the town, which is what I think Deputy Cassells was talking about earlier, the chances of having elected members representing the town on the council is far greater. The terms of reference have been signed off by the Minister of State today. The committees have been established and they are doing their work.

I am jumping around a little here to pick up Deputy O'Sullivan's point on how the local and county councils coexist. The old system had town councils and a county council. The town councils were abolished in 2014 and municipal districts were put in their place. Our assumption on the Bill is that the town councils would be independent corporate bodies. As such, they would not be subsidiary bodies of the county council.